Ecuador: Trial for the Assassination of Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio Begins

Five suspects who were allegedly responsible for one of the Ecuadorian election's most infamous moments, the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, have now begun as the country still reels from the effects of that killing, with criminal gangs slowly getting bolder in fighting the government.

Villavicencio has been very aggressive in his campaign, promising to clamp down on the various criminal gangs plaguing Ecuador. This led to him being assassinated last year after he attended a campaign event. While he was not considered a frontrunner, his death did help propel Daniel Noboa to the presidency, as Noboa also ran on an anti-crime platform.

Before he ran for president, Fernando Villavicencio was a journalist and legislator who exposed corruption and connections between organized crime and politicians, according to Reuters. In particular, he drew the ire of the criminal gang known as Los Lobos and, that the gang's leadership had planned the assassination from jail.

Prosecutors have charged five people in the assassination plot, including two of the Los Lobos gang's leaders. However, the defense argued that there is not much sufficient evidence to support the accusation. Meanwhile, prosecutors are also doing a separate investigation into who requested the murder.

During Villavicencio's assassination, there were eight suspects. One of them was killed, and the other seven suspects, who were mostly Colombians, were murdered while being held in prisons as they awaited their respective trials. The gunman who killed the presidential candidate was the one who was killed by police at the scene.

The five remaining suspects each face up to 26 years in jail if found guilty.

Ecuador Prosecutors Say Fernando Villavicencio Assassination Was Carefully Planned

Ecuadorian authorities have been investigating the high-profile assassination since it happened and have managed to arrest several suspects already, though some of those suspects have been killed, leaving only five of them to stand trial. However, authorities were still able to uncover messages sent to one of the gunmen to an inmate in Latacunga jail.

That inmate sent messages through a woman who provided the assassins with logistical support. This soon led prosecutors to the Los Lobos gang, which Villavicencio had often angered. The remaining suspects were their accomplices, according to BBC News.

Los Lobos reportedly has approximately 8,000 members and is one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country. It has been linked to the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico's two largest and most powerful drug cartels.

US Offered Reward for Information on Suspects in Fernando Villavicencio Assassination

A little after Villavicencio was assassinated and before the arrest and assassination of the suspects, the US offered some help to the Ecuadorian government as it tried to hunt down those responsible.

The US State Department's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program offered $5 million "for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the remaining unknown coconspirators responsible for the murder of Fernando Villavicencio."

In addition, it also offered a separate reward offer of up to $1 million for "information leading to the identification and location of any individual holding a key leadership position in the Transnational Organized Crime group responsible for Villavicencio's homicide."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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